Severus Snape: And The Forgotten Ace
by Unimaginative Lot
Summary: This is a very special Birthday present for my good friend Sugar-Song777. We are of a mind that the Harry Potter universe was just too mean to him, so here's a Snape lovers treat. Book complient all the way up until the end, then AU. Have fun - Complete -
1. Chapter 1

***************HAPPY BIRTHDAY IMAGINATIVE LIGHT!*************

(This is a revision, from my dear friend's last birthday, from whence she's changed her profile name. Hence she's now 'Imaginative Light'). I figured the best happy birthday gift I could give you was a better ending for our beloved SEVERUS SNAPE! So here it is. I did my very best, and I hope you find it worthy of him. (jumps around excitedly). You're the best! Happy Birthday.

Chapter 1

"Owe, Sir! Sir you're stepping on my hand."

"What the devil are you doing down there?"

"Umph… Thank you. Where are we exactly?"

"I'm not sure. Where is that dunderhead Potter?"

(a tense pause ensues before the sound of muffled robes shifting is heard) "Like I'd tell you Sir. You betrayed us. All of us! You killed Dumbledore after he trusted you for years. You…"

"Lets not get ahead of ourselves Miss Granger. At the moment we are both apparently trapped in some sort of hidden passageway. It would be in both our interests to rejoin those struggling above would in not? Now. Have you a wand?"

"You can try to take it if you like, but I wont just hand it over to you!"

"Lumos, Miss Granger. I merely thought it would be beneficial to have the ability of sight."

"Oh… What happened to your wand?"

"."

"Lumos!"

Snape blinked several times trying to adjust to the light emitting from her wand which had already been thrust in his eyes threateningly while she was viciously reminding him of his crimes. It's a wonder she hadn't mistakenly poked his eye out in the dark. "Miss Granger, kindly lower your wand."

She did so slowly and glaring.

He looked around with the enhanced light but found no enhancement in their perception. Miss Granger's oddly dim lumos charm was, like them, engulfed in seemingly endless black void. Even the floor looked nonexistent in it's conformity with the eerie ebony surroundings. He took a turn about the spot they stood, trying to see anything, even a wall…no such luck.

While he was busy looking at everything he could not see, she was frowning at her wand light. "It should be brighter." she whispered worried.

He glanced at her sorry excuse for a lumos but didn't bother her about it passed a characteristic, and probably involuntary, eye-brow raise.

"Sir? Sir may I ask you where you were before you ended up here?"

There was a pause in which Severus pondered and blew out a deep breath. Hermione had given up on his answer, thinking that he was just being his obnoxious self. Then he answered.

"I was speaking to the Dark Lord."

While Snape paused in thought again, she just couldn't help boldly snapping, "What about? How best to torture muggle-borns once you succeeded in taking Hogwarts?" There was venom in her voice.

"Don't be impertinent you silly girl."

She huffed and tried again. "So, what happened?"

Snape squinted and took his time answering. "It was imperative that I get to Potter…to tell him something…I turned my wand on Nagini. She was threatening me."

Hermione made a humourless noise in the back of her throat, "Figures."

Snape looked at her sharply, "What do you mean-"

"You give your loyalties to somebody like Voldemort…it figures that he would eventually betray you." she almost looked smugly satisfied.

He narrowed his eyes at her.

Her face suddenly fell and her expression turned to one of shame when she realized she was talking about a man's life. "Sorry. What happened next?"

He raised a brow and continued, "I remember seeing something which is none of your concern before I suddenly lost my balance, and found myself dropping in on my least favourite Gryffindor know-it-all."

She rubbed the hand he had landed on as he fell on her. She couldn't help being slightly affronted at the fact that he was withholding a valuable little tid-bit because it was 'none of her concern.' "Well, that's not very enlightening," she grumble.

"Quid pro quo, Miss Granger. What's your story?"

She looked put out, but complied none the less. "I lost Ron and Harry while trying to help Tonks ward off your charming friend Dolohov (she unconsciously rubbed at the scar that Death Eater had bestowed on her during their last fight in the Department of Mysteries two years earlier). "Then I remember Malfoy pulling me out of the way of his father's killing curse. I wouldn't have thought it (she shrugged and continued). Then… I…"

"Yes Miss Granger?"

"Oh, I don't even know why I'm telling you this!"

Snape sneered at her belated reluctance and turned to finish investigating their mute surroundings.

She sighed while fiddling with the tip of her dim wand and continued, "Then I thought I saw Sirius reaching out for me before I too 'lost my balance.'"

"Black? Tell me, how is the poltergeist of headquarters these days?" Severus asked viscously.

"Sirius isn't a poltergeist! He didn't choose to keep to this world: he moved on."

Snape rolled his eyes at the passionately defensive girl and continued walking about aimlessly.

"You don't think we're…dead. Do you Snape?"

"Where's your Gryffindor courage Granger? Is the notion really that terrifying to you?"

"I'm not terrified!" she countered heatedly.

Snape smirked. "Hardly Miss Granger. If we were dead, we would have the -choice- of moving on or -keeping- to this world (she glared daggers at his mocking of her words). But since we have not yet encountered a sign post pointing us one way or the other, I believe it is safe to assume that we are not dead."

"Well then where are we! Why don't you have your wand when I do! Why is my magical force ridiculously diluted! I have to get back! To help Harry… Unlike you, I have a world to save!" She was fairly shouting now, standing on tip toe to face him off.

Severus only looked down on her as stoic as ever: not flinching as her hot breath struck his face in wisps. "Of course, your only concern in living is to aid Potter. How Noble." His comment was dripping with sarcasm.

She turned away from him with a scowl. "Not everyone's Slytherin - Snape!"

He smirked at her change from a respectful 'Sir' (old habits die hard) to a disdainful 'Snape.'

Awhile whirled away in which they both refrained from speaking to each other. After an amount of time undetermined, Snape leaped up from where they had been sitting.

Hermione looked at him questioningly. "What is it?"

"I know where we are." he whispered earnestly.

"Where?" she asked sharply.

He looked down at her somewhat perplexed. "But…you Miss Granger should not have been able to follow me here…"

"I didn't follow you anywhere."

He rolled his eyes. "Pardon me. I forgot that you often cannot see the ingredients from the potion. Let me rephrase: You should not have been able to benefit from our present state."

"What are you on about?"

He paused thinking it over. "In my youth Miss Granger, I partook in complex experimentations with a fellow Death Eater whom was gifted beyond measure in the art of incantation crafting. He was linguistically brilliant and very talented. His name was Regellus Black."

Hermione's eyes snapped wide open. "But!"

"He was a Death Eater like myself, and a Slytherin. Why would I not join him in his highly interesting investigations. I was only fortunate that the Dark Lord permitted him to take the mark a year early while he was still at Hogwarts. He was placed as my protégé."

"But you must have been only a year or two older than he at the time." Hermione argued completely confounded at this new information.

Snape raised an amused brow. "I was a spy Granger. A very good asset since I learned fast and did not make mistakes. Regellus was placed young so that he might benefit from my example."

Hermione closed her mouth as she considered the scenario.

"Besides his ridiculously outspoken fervour for the cause, he was an adequate laboratory partner - and an even more than adequate theorist."

Hermione was fascinated by this look into Regellus's person. She had long been curious about him, being that he had turned on Voldemort and sacrificed himself for the greater good. She listened with rapt attention.

"Together we discovered 'Frateris Tutela.'" At Hermione's confused look, he explained. "You would not find it in any printed text Granger. The Death Eater organization cannot go gallivanting about publishing spell patents. It means 'a brother's power of protection.' Though it's intended goal is admirable, it is too risky and involves quite too many questionable elements and outcomes not to be considered Dark Magic. We fused a powerful stasis spell with our own magical auras. The purpose: if ever either of us encountered a life threatening injury or physical state, which we were too weak to cure or withstand on our own, the injured party's bodily reaction would be to draw on his chosen 'brother's' magic to effectively arrest the damage. We experimented on ourselves as the two theoretical brothers. The process entailed a blood potion to be drunk by both and a binding magical connection."

"But Regellus is dead! How come his body didn't draw on your magic to save him, and how could you be drawing on his magic now?" Hermione saw something shift in Snape's eyes.

"Regellus did indeed disappear many years ago." He paused, looking piercingly at his former student.

She suddenly realized Snape had no idea how Regellus had died. He probably thought someone from the first Order of the Phoenix had killed him. She frowned. It was obvious that Regellus had been at the very least a friend to Snape, and she didn't relish the thought of being the one to tell him how he died. "Professor…" she started tentatively, "Regellus was killed by a mob of inferi, some eighteen years ago. He had turned sides," she said with a hint of pride, "and was caught in a booby-trap set by Voldemort while on a mission. I understand he was drowned by them…they were in a lake setting."

"He joined the Order then?"

"No. He never got the chance. Very few people know what really happened to him actually. Not even Sirius knew. The only reason we found out is because his personal house-elf was his accomplice in his self-assigned mission."

"What was the mission?" he asked sharply.

Hermione looked pained but remained silent.

"I see. Well regardless… his body may have been effectively shut down in stasis by my magic, but a living thing can only withstand on stasis for so long. If he was left at the bottom of a lake, his stasis would have only lasted a matter of two days at the very most." Snape said quietly. "As for my being able to draw on his magic, it is entirely possible. Some of our greatest magical discoveries point to the notion that magic follows us beyond death. It does not matter 'where' my blood-brother is today: the binding magical connection is as potent now as it was then. It could only be dissolved if both parties magically renounced it. Since Regellus is no longer with us, we were never given the chance to reverse our experiment."

She delicately continued asking questions. "But if the spell was meant to 'effectively arrest the damage' why is it your magic wasn't used to cure his injuries instead of simply placing his body under stasis?"

"The spell was never perfected. He disappeared shortly after we invoked the initial trial."

"So you're saying that you've been fatally wounded, and that the magic of Regellus's soul is still out there somewhere being called upon to put you on temporary stasis?"

"Precisely. This must be some sort of coma state."

"But that doesn't explain why I'm here with you."

"As to that Miss Granger, I cannot possibly speculate. You must also have been fatally harmed, and are somehow intercepting our magical connection."

She slumped dramatically. "You do realise this means that if someone doesn't find us and cure us soon, we will be dead."

"For people of our maturity Miss Granger, death should be as sleep after a long tiring day." he said cynically.

"Ha! Dumbledore was talking about a six hundred year old Nicholas Flamel when he said that, not us," she retorted grumpily. She was quiet for a moment before an idea hit her. "It would make sense that you don't have your wand if you're in a coma, but if we're both in the same cauldron - then why do I have mine?"

Snape contemplated her speculatively. "Though not as apt as you claim you usually are (Snape's lip curled maliciously), you can do magic with it effectively as well, ergo it is not a figment of your imagination. It most likely is a symbol of our magical abilities at the moment. I may be too damaged even to do the simplest spell. You still have some strength left, but it is waning." he said as he examined her diminishing wand light. "Perhaps… Miss Granger, know you any adequate healing spells?"

"Yes!" She said haughtily. "I would have to, seeing as how I've been curing all the boys' injuries for months!"

Snape tried to have the forbearance not to snap at her quick vanity and lack of speed on the up take. "Miss Granger I thought you were the brightest witch of your age? Can you not realize that, if you act swiftly while you still can, you hold a possible reprieve for the both of us in your hand?" he motioned towards her wand.

Her mouth formed a small 'O' in comprehension. "I would have to know what ails us though."

"Use your mind girl! It is reasonable to say that you were hit by that killing curse of Malfoy's since it is the last event you can recall before the 'Black' apparition. I was un-doubtably overcome by Nagini. I will need far more attention than your slim skills can afford before I am awakened from the stasis due to the poison that surely has invaded my bloodstream: I will need the antidote Healer Pie developed for Arthur Weasley. But you have absolutely no lasting damage to your body - unless Greyback decided to defile a prize already won. This is unlikely since he prefers moving targets. The stasis will have protected you from the curse's effects which indicates that all you must do is relieve your own stasis. Can you do this?"

"But, if I'm intruding on your stasis, won't that revive both of us?"

"Perhaps. But it is a risk we must take. I was in the Shrieking Shack when I spoke to the Dark Lord. If you find me soon enough to apparate me to St. Mungo's I will at least have a better chance of survival than either of us do in our present state."

"You're a Death Eater! How could I leave the battle to apparate you to St. Mungo's when I could use that precious time to help Harry!"

"Perhaps I am mistaken, but there is little you can do for your precious Potter now. If I am correct as to why you are here that would indicate, that if it were not for me, you would be dead at this point in time. Are you willing to take my stasis protection purely for your own gain Gryffindor? Besides, I am a very useful ally. The time it would take to apparate me within the walls of St. Mungo's and feed me the antidote would use only a fraction of what the duration of the battle encompasses."

"Harry could need me immediately!"

"All I would need would be the antidote and a blood replenishing draught. All I would need from you Miss Granger is five moments worth of transportation and your prior knowledge of the antidote I need to be imparted to the healers."

She furrowed her brows in anxiety. It was the only honourable thing to do. How could she steal his stasis protection and leave him to die while she lived off it's benefit? No matter who he was, that would be the ultimate sin. On the other hand, if he survived because of her and lived to murder more people, she could never forgive herself. "How can I trust you!" she gasped with emotion.

Snape sighed. "Miss Granger there is something I must inform Potter of. It could mean the outcome of the war not just the battle."

"Are you saying you've switched sides - again." she shot shrewdly.

"If you can believe me, I never did switch sides." At her incredulous look, he continued. "Dumbledore was marked for death long before the night I laid wand to him; not by the Dark Lord, but by his own hand. (he suddenly gave a mirthless chuckle) Do you honestly believe that the greatest strategist of all time was hoodwinked by a power-hungry madman?"

Hermione almost looked dazed trying to process what he was telling her. "Wait! You're saying Dumbledore committed suicide?" she asked unbelieving.

"Essentially, that is exactly what I'm saying. I was to commit the act since it was I who was in desperate need of prolonged stability in the face of constant treachery and danger. There's only so much a spy can do to keep his master's trust, and my actions were progressively becoming less useful to him. Quite a dangerous thing Miss Granger."

"So you want me to believe that Dumbledore would sacrifice himself so that you might continue living after you stopped helping the Order?"

"Who claimed I ever stopped helping the Order? There's much to be done on 'both' sides by the hand of an adequate blockade runner. Dumbledore was terminally cursed Miss Granger. Don't tell me you didn't know that his blackened hand was more serious than he published? Any learned individual could see that a curse which could cause that sort of damage should have killed its target. It was only because of my secretly brewed weekly potions that he withstood as long as he did."

"But!"

"Miss Granger, precious time is being lost. Look at your wand light!" It had the intensity of a candle now. "I must speak to Potter Miss Granger. The arrogant little idiot will never believe what I must tell him, unless he has the proof of my memories. I must get them to him at any and all costs. It was one of the lasts and most important instructions Dumbledore left me, and I will NOT die until it is done!"

For the first time Hermione saw his emotionless exterior fade. She saw the passionate man beneath the mask. He was determined and trapped. She couldn't stand the thought of his death if what he was saying was true. She could not take the risk of disregarding him if Dumbledore really had wanted him to tell Harry something. Slowly and with the morbidity of someone terribly unsure, she raised her wand…

A/N: Haha! I know a cliffy. I love evil cliffies. So I'll try to get the second and final chappy up by tomorrow Sparrow's Wing. Again Happy Birthday-


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"You will indeed meet that sticky end Potter, Ha!"

"Expeliarmus!"

"Ah, Potter you're even more of a pathetic aim then I imagined you."

"Harry! We've got to find Hermione!"

"I… I know Ron!"

"Why Potter, I do believe that I can aid you in that endeavour." (Malfoy suddenly turns his wand away from the pair of them). "Avada Kedavra!"

"NO!"

"HERMIONE!"

They saw their friend collapse against Draco whom had attempted, too late, to pull her into his hiding spot. He had hopelessness in his eyes as he looked down on the lifeless form of the girl he had bullied for seven years. He looked up to his father's livid face with terror and dropped Hermione like a rag-doll before racing away.

Surprisingly Ron was the first to snap out of the frozen state the three battling men were in. He let out an all mighty cry of pain and senseless lava fury. He flung his wand arm into action, and before Malfoy senior knew what was happening he was flung against a wall hard. He was badly dazed, but it didn't stop there. Ron had gone completely mad as he magically thrust the Death Eater from wall to wall…wordlessly. After a moment of shock, Harry threw himself on Ron.

"RON! STOP… Stop! Malfoy's out, he's OUT!"

Ron's face was screwed up tightly and it looked as if he couldn't hear his friend; unstoppable tears pored down his cheeks as he intensified his actions.

"Ron! STOP!" Harry yanked Ron towards Hermione and they both dragged her into the nook Draco had hid in. Ron was in hysterics, cradling her head in his lap. "Not Hermione, not Hermione, no, no, no, not Hermione…"

Harry felt sick. He looked down with fractured eyes feeling as if part of himself had died. "Ron… Ron… we have to rejoin the battle."

"no, no, no…"

"Ron!" Harry almost dry sobbed, "We have to go!" He grabbed Ron by the sleeve, and they both morphed off into the hundreds of bodies battling in the halls of Hogwarts.

Hermione lay there cold, and for all the world looking quite dead. Every now and again, however, her eyelid would twitch or her lip would tremble, evidencing her non-responsive flicker of life. Up to date she would be the second person in known history to survive the killing curse.

The battle waged on for what seemed like an eternity. Draco had been hiding under the trick stair off the first floor landing for some time, crying mostly. He would spare an occasional glance at her. He found morbid pleasure in pretending the mud-blood was peacefully sleeping while the world came crashing down around them. And then, he would chasten himself for being ridiculous before crying again.

He looked up for what seemed like the hundredth time and looked upon the 'sleeping' Granger. His brows furrowed. He could have sworn her arm had been angled differently before. He shrugged, thinking someone had probably tripped on her. A few moments passed and his eyes became glassy as he looked at her. Then his brows furrowed again. Her clothed bosom was shifting in an odd sort of way. Then suddenly, just from the center of her chest, a piercing sky-blue light shot out in all directions: as if it was finally escaping a trapped place. Draco snapped his eyes shut to prevent the blinding light from removing his sight. He was in utter shock. Though he never paid as much attention in school as the girl he was starring at, he was reasonably educated and yet he had never heard of such a belated reflex to death.

He opened his eyes again fully expecting to see Granger slumped and unmoving; what he saw knocked the wind out of him. She looked dazed as she leaned back against her elbows, taking in the sight of the viscous battle. He was absolutely transfixed as he watched her shake herself. Suddenly she jerked, as if she had remembered something vital. She leaped up and scoured the ground for her wand. Once finding it she was on the move, racing away towards the great oak doors. Draco snapped out of his stupor and raced after her. Perhaps he saw wrong. Perhaps it hadn't hit her square on, engulfing her in green light as he had distinctly witnessed. He didn't know why really, but feuds put aside, following her felt like the only sane thing to do.

They flew across the grounds which had been scattered with comrades of both sides, visible in the moonlight. Draco tried not to look at them and just ran as fast as he could after Granger, who was surprisingly fast. He finally caught her up at the gates. He saw what she was about to do and, without thinking, grabbed her by the arm just as she dis-apparated.

When the dizzying effects of sidelong apparation died away, Draco looked about and was perplexed to find himself in the Shrieking Shack…why would she abandon the battle to come here of all places?

"Malfoy! What are you doing!"

"I…" he snapped, automatically going to retort something scathing, but stopped short. "I don't know Granger. How the bloody hell didn't you die? I saw you! You collapsed in my arms…" he had an outraged look on; not at the fact that she survived but at the fact that he didn't understand the laws by which she had.

She was entirely put out. "Sod off Malfoy! I've got a spy to save!" And she was rushing off again.

He rolled his eyes and followed. Passed the stairs they went and into the dark vestibules to the left. Draco had thought that he could see nothing more that night which could shake his center, but he was sadly mistaken. The sight of his godfather sprawled at odd angles on the ground, unconscious but still uselessly clutching at his bleeding throat was just one straw too many for the dragon's back. His knees buckled and his arms dropped bonelessly to his sides as he looked on, completely shell shocked. The little hope he had left vanished painfully from his chest as if a spell had been thrown at him. What hope could there be in the world when everything he knew was so backwards this horrible fateful night. If Severus Snape, the strongest and smartest man he'd ever known, had fallen victim to this madness, what hope could there possibly be…

Hermione on the other hand was all action. She ran to Snape's side and grasped one of his seemingly lifeless arms. "Malfoy! Malfoy if you can pull yourself together, you could actually help!" He looked up to her and mindlessly moved closer. "Come on! Grab his other arm, we're going to apparate to St. Mungo's. QUICKLY!"

He did as she said, and again felt the dizzying effects of sidelong apparation. He landed unceremoniously on his arse in the middle of the reception area in the crowded wizard hospital. Distantly he heard Hermione arguing with healer personnel. He had no idea when he had begun thinking of her as 'Hermione,' but didn't really care seeing as how he was more concerned taking in the ghastly appearance of his mentor.

"I DON'T BLOODY CARE IF YOU'RE FULL IN THE EMERGENCY WARD! THIS MAN NEEDS IMMEDIATE ATTENTION, AND IF HE DOESN'T GET IT I WILL BLAST THE BLOODY WARD TO BITS SO THERE'LL BE ROOM…"

"Calm down miss…"

"NO! I will NOT calm down! There's a bloody war on at Hogwarts and he's needed NOW!"

The healer opened his mouth to retort but didn't get the chance as Hermione wasted no more precious time on him. She ran up the hall to the Creature-Induced Injuries ward to locate Pie.

She found him breaking his back trying to tend all the patients who had been attacked by werewolves in the last month. It was quickly escalating to a non-viral epidemic.

"PIE! HEALER PIE!" she screamed as security wizards were attempting to detain her.

He furrowed his brows and called them off. "Miss Granger? What are you doing here?"

"Pie! I need the antidote to that snake bite Mr. Weasely suffered from, and I need it now! There's a man bleeding to death on the reception floor, and no-one seems to want to help!"

He got a deadly serious look to his normally jovial face as he flew into action. "Lets get it then!" Hermione had to jog to keep up with his swift strides. He went straight to his personal storage cupboard and withdrew the necessary potions - the antidote, a blood-replenishing potion, and a stamina enhancer. They found themselves at Snape's side within a matter of moments and, to the horror of his policy-compulsive superiors, Pie fed Snape what he needed right then and there. He quickly worked them in conjunction with what Snape would consider 'foolish wand-waving' and sat back awaiting the result. The floor as well as the two teens and Pie were all covered in blood in the middle of dozens of people waiting to see if they had caught the damage in time.

Slowly Snape's eyes fluttered, the action drawing relieved sighs from everyone present…except hospital managers.

"Healer Pie! A word." a pudgy little witch with heavily made up eyes, whom reminded Hermione suspiciously of Dolores Umbridge, said.

Hermione put a hand on Pie's arm. "Thank you…" she mouthed as he turned to go face the consequences of his actions.

Meanwhile Malfoy was stunned speechless as he helped his godfather to his feet. Snape was not entirely healed by any means; that would take weeks, perhaps months, of rest. But he was strong enough to carry on at least, and he needed to get to Potter. Coughing up some slight amount of blood, he tried his scratchy voice. "Granger! Get me to Hogwarts…Now!"

The same little pudgy lady manager, turned and spoke. "That patient needs to be established a room. Healer Trent, see him to the patient waiting area until he's found one."

All it took to make Healer Trent shrink was the glare the present Headmaster of Hogwarts threw him which plainly stated, 'Come near me and you will regret it.'

"Sir, you're unwell. Let's get you to a comfortable waiting chair…"

Hermione scoffed and, before Snape could bite his head off, gathered Malfoy's hand and supported Snape with her shoulder - in the blink of an eye they were all gone. Healer Trent had leaped forward to try and stop them, but Hermione was too quick for him.

"Healer Trent, a word."

He winced at her tone and went to receive his tongue lashing as well.

They all appeared outside the gates and to the devastation that was Hogwarts.

"Draco! Retrieve my wand." Snape commanded, brooking no argument.

Malfoy was so dazed by the nights events, he was only glad to have a coherent course of action. He mindlessly nodded and apparated away to the Shrieking Shack.

Severus was still coughing up blood, and seemed to have a bad case of the chills. Hermione was needed under his arm as a support at least until Malfoy's return. "Sir, shouldn't I get Harry?"

"No." he coughed again. "The Dark Lord thinks me dead. I am unable to present my best defences at the moment. My message holds precedent to anything else…it would not do for him to find me here. We must get to the safety of the Castle."

Malfoy popped back with the requested wand in hand.

"It took you long enough Malfoy!"

"Silence! Come."

Hermione resented being treated as his student once again, but held her tongue and helped with his left while Malfoy took up his right. They trudged up the grounds as quickly and quietly as they could, avoiding any signs of the living and the struggling. This meant that they had to take the rout that had already been ravaged by battle. Malfoy had to cover his mouth to keep from retching because Snape had not permitted him to use an encasing charm - they could not afford to attract attention. They had made it to the castle in a matter of fifteen minutes, which was quite remarkable since Snape was not at his best.

Hermione led them to a quiet classroom off the side corridors towards the Hufflepuff common room. "I'll go find Harry! Draco! If I find out you left Professor Snape's side, (she shook her fists in his face) so help me… "

"Yes, yes Granger. Just go!" He answered with rolling eyes. After all Snape was his godfather. If anyone was protective, it should be him.

She departed in a flash of abundant curls flying about untamed. She ran, passing grim duels and avoiding streaking curses. It all crumbled around her: her school, her home, her world. She could scaresly feel her legs anymore, but niether did she feel the pain of it when all she could comprehend was this terrible night. The anxiety in her bosom was a physical weight and she heaved ever greater breaths as she feared she would not find Harry or Ron. At times when she'd encountered a familiar face, she'd ask as she was pelting passed if they'd seen Harry. She received nothing but negatives.

Finally when it seemed as if her efforts were futile and she would never find them, she heard a bone chilling voice reverberate through herself and her world.

"You have fought," said the high cold voice, "valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste."

Hermione blanched at the shear audacity and blatent falseness of his claims as she listened on.

"Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately."

All duels around Hermione ceased and she glared at the confused faces of many of the Death Eaters.

"You have one hour. Dispose of your dead, with dignity. Treat your injured."

Satisfied smiles spread over said faces at the amendment, and they began slinking off towards swift exits before the resistance could blast any of them: since they now had orders to not harm anyone.

When Voldemort began speaking directly to Harry: threatening mass butchery of everyone, if he did not hand himself over like a sacrificial lamb, Hermione almost shrieked her hatred for the despot. She had to find Harry NOW. Before he went marching off to his death without thought or worse yet: without Snape's message. She tore out in search of the makeshift medical wards springing up here and there in the Great Hall and Grounds: praying that he would follow his heart of gold and check on the wounded first.

She burst into relieved tears when she saw both him and Ron helping to drag the deceased to respectful lines of sobbing friends and family. Her tears turned bleak when she saw a mass of red heads bowed in mourning. No! None of the Weasleys could have been hit. Not Them! Her legs seared in protest but she ran on: not caring if they fell off, only if she could reach her surrogate family all the sooner. Her heart was pounding, her crying eyes widening, her arms extended in agony, as she ran for all she was worth. She had to know. She didn't want to see whom it was. Her heart was screaming for her to close her eyes, to shield herself from such devastating discovery. But Gods, she had to know! She flung the astonished forms of Harry and Ron aside as she thrust herself forward to see who it was: sobbing openly by now. Gods!

What she saw both relieved her and broke her heart into little pieces. Fred and George were both delicately arranging the lifeless form of their fallen comrade: Katie Bell.

"Oh George! I'm so sorry…" Hermione wailed and threw her arms around him (knowing somehow which was him) with all the emotion she truly felt for his pain. She knew he had been in love with the witty Quiddage Chaser since fourth year and they both cried into each other's shoulders as George returned the hug with strength.

Then she felt an annoying tug at her sleeve. When she let go of George, she was assaulted by a pair of over zealous friends. She gasped as they jumped her: also laden with profuse tears. It was quite a pathetic scene really. They acted as if she was dead…well, in all fairness, she sort of had been.

She extricated herself long enough to speak, "Harry! Harry, you've got to come quick." She judged it better not to say why: he'd probably try to prevent a meeting, or worse: kill Snape. Pushing Ron's touchy-feely hand away from her face (the poor fellow was in absolute awe that he hadn't suffered the same loss as his brother had), she grabbed Harry and took off running yet again. The three reunited friends jogged all the way back to the Great Hall and down the Hufflepuff corridor, to the abandoned classroom.

Just outside she turned and faced them. "Now you two have to give me your word you'll hear him out before you go berserk and try to kill him."

"Hermione…"

"Your word!"

"Hermione, how are you even here?" Ron asked, almost starting the crying jag up again.

"Ron, there's no time for that now. You've got to hear this Harry! You've got to give him the floor, and hear him out."

"But who Hermione?"

"I cant tell you! Your word, Now!"

"Alright."

They walked in and both young men stiffened immediately. What they saw was their childhood nemesis, Draco Malfoy, helping Dumbledore's murderer, Severus Snape, to sit up properly. Harry's wand came flying out despite the word he had forgotten he gave, and the only way Hermione even had time to throw herself in the way was because he didn't know who he wanted to curse first.

"Hermione! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

"No Harry! You'll hear him out like you promised and that's final!"

"Potter. Before you burst that big head of yours with fury, or do something as equally stupid as far as this battle is concerned," (Harry glared daggers), "There is something you ought to know."

"And what's that!…"

"Silence!" Weak as he was, Snape achieved his best terrifying voice with distinction. Even Hermione automatically jumped and fell still, as did her friends. Malfoy glared at them as he moved aside and crossed his arms.

Harry was fuming, but looked as if he would comply.

"Draco, the flask please." Malfoy retrieved the rather artistic flask he had conjured for his godfather while waiting for Hermione to return. Snape withdrew his wand and began extricating the recognizing bluish substance, neither liquid nor gas, from his temples and filling the silver snake handled container. When it was full to the brim, he tried to put it in the unwilling hand of the boy who was using his painfully familiar green eyes to burn a hole of hate in him. "Take them Potter! They explain everything you need to know to defeat the Dark Lord. Put your pride aside for once in your young grim life, and view them! Do this before you do anything else."

Harry looked untrusting and hateful for a moment, but took them finally.

Snape's eyes softened fractionally. He continued with the same stern tone however, "Remember Potter: life isn't fair. But this mustn't persuade you to weakness. Not in this affair." Snape's eyes now held something close to concern, even doubt.

"Will that be all." Harry's voice was sarcastic and cruel.

Snape gave him one last piercing look, making sure not to overlook the almond shaped green orbs of his one and only love, before turning to Hermione. "See that he knows the contents of that flask well." he said, pointing a rigid finger towards the flask. "And Miss Granger, utilize the Slytherin nature I know you possess to aid him with what he must do."

She looked confident and defiant. "His Gryffindor nature will not allow him to do anything less than his duty, Sir!"

And with that, the three turned to take their leave, Hermione giving her old Potions Master one last and somewhat nestalgic glance. She had, after all, saved his life because he had saved hers and she felt almost cold and uncaring to leave him there in Draco's un-capable hands. They'd shared a bonding experience, on some level, and she felt wrong leaving him out of the loop.

Surprisingly, he returned the look, in his own way: putting aside sterness or disdain as he gave her a brow-raise in farewell.

She almost let a few tears escape. She was sure that would be the last time she ever saw him again. He was far too weak to do anything but rest, and if she knew anything about Severus Snape she knew that would be the last thing he would do in the middle of battle.

They walked to a hidden passageway to look at the memories. They all gathered round, and taking deep breaths, leaped in together. And it all came crashing down on them. The whole truth. The reasons for every hidden secret that Harry had thought he got through when Sirius died. He realized the full import of his parents, of Snape, of himself. He was a horcrux. He was always intended to die. He was the ultimate sacrifice: never meant to live to see freedom. His mother had died for the wrong cause: in vain for him, and he was sickened by that thought. His chest was heaving as he lay on the floor of the passageway, contemplating his death. He was terrified. He looked to his friends who were both looking at him with silent outrage.

"Don't go through with it Harry."

"There has to be another way! Every problem has a solution." It came out before she knew she had said it, but she knew it wasn't true. Dumbledore had said, 'The boy must die.' Even Snape had refused to accept it at first. She knew it was down to her now to convince Ron to accept it, and help Harry face his death. She closed her eyes tight and swallowed an asphyxiating breath. She had felt her heart break too many times tonight. "Harry…"

But she had forgotten her own accurate words on Harry's nobility. He rose in one fluid motion and was the picture of Gryffindor courage in all its shining glory. Without a word, he slowly exited the passageway with calm surety.

"Harry?" Ron was not yet ready to resign his best friend to such a fate. He leaped up to follow but was stopped by a gentle hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Hermione with brimming tears in her eyes as she shook her head.

"We have to join the fight Ron. Harry knows what to do. We have to make sure Nagini is killed."

"But Hermione!"

"No Ron." She gave him a sympathetic look. "Lets go."

As soon as the three most annoying teens he had ever had the misfortune of encountering left the room, Snape charged Draco with the task of helping him sacrifice himself further. "Help me stand Draco." There was no room for argument.

He now had accomplished his mission in delivering the message, he could no longer spy of course, and for all intents and purposes was expendable. He spoke of weak people: how they constantly expressed how bitterely unfair their lives had been, and how they openly flaunted their sacrifices. He had sacrificed ridiculously in his time and probably could boast the unfairest life of all. And yet, he remained silent: never showing any of his pain, never claiming anything, never even defending himself from false accusations. He did what he must do: what had to be done, with a sharp tongue and dark sarcasm as his only indulgence. In the grander picture, he knew he was now expendable and would tonight give his last sacrifice: he would fight the fight and give his life for the cause. In truth, he didn't want to live past his duties paid. He gave the closest thing to a smile he had expressed in twenty years when he thought that, perhaps…only perhaps, he might see Lily again. On shaky legs he stood tall and proud. Turning to Draco, he tried his best to do his duty as godfather for the last time. "Draco. I want you to get yourself to the Room of Requirement and stay there. Your best chance is to do nothing. If the Light wins, they will think you a civillian: and if instead the Dark should be victorious, you can play the faithful Death Eater. Think of a place you can hide from all danger: the room will provide."

"Where are you going?"

In the place of answering he gave his godson his characteristic scowl, before exiting the room in a hailstorm of billowing robes.

Draco felt something he had never felt before: lost. He cursed himself for wishing he knew where the insufferable know-it-all was as he made his way to the Room of Requirement, stealthily of course.

It was horrible. A nightmarish panorama stretched out before him. As a Death Eater he had seen many battles, but this was by far the grandest affair he had ever witnessed. Hundreds of bodies slayed, hundreds more injured and lying about. Many were mere children: the children he had spent half his life teaching and protecting. He may have enjoyed scarring them to tears, but he did not enjoy watching their deaths play out before his eyes as he continued to live. It sickened him and he fought harder because of it. It needed to stop! Whether the war was won or lost, the faster the battle concluded the faster their pain would cease. With a snarl, he flung himself further into action with abandon. The halls of Hogwarts were a many-coloured haze of moving wands and translucent curses. He had little strength left, but he managed to stay in the fight. He had already taken down Dolohov and Macnair. Lords only knew how he had kept his speed as his legs trembled beneath him, but he had done it. His occlumency skills were good for more than hiding emotional feelings: he found that he had a talent for sustaining ungodly amounts of physical stress and shock while thrusting his body towards the goal it was required to reach.

In all this madness, he found himself wondering where Hermione had got to. He had given up thinking of her as Miss Granger: who wouldn't have after the little episode they shared earlier that night. It already seemed like an age ago when they had sat in the dark confines of their shared conseousness and spoken of Regelus. Regelus. The dear foolish boy-genius who had saved his life even beyond death. Though he loathed to admit it, Regelus's disappearance had been one of the main events of his early life which had hardenned him to the man he was now: cold and bitter dungeon bat of Hogwarts. Even now, he was fond of his old friend and wished he could see him again…one of the many reasons he would welcome death. He only wished to locate the insufurable know-it-all first. He looked about with his maddeningly blurring vision in hopes that he would see her wild curls flashing by, but he didn't. He cursed under his breath and continued dueling the unequal ninnies Voldemort called Death Eaters. He smirked: even half dead and with failing eyesight he could best them. As usual, his aim and duelling skills were flawless.

Much time had passed and he was beginning to worry. Had the brainless Potter given himself over to death yet? Had Hermione and that bufoon Weasley finished off Nagini?

Then he saw it. The procession of Death Eaters with the Dark Lord in the lead. He saw Hagrid carrying the lifeless body of the boy…Lily's son. He grimaced in both relief and repulshion. At least part of it had been carried out as planned. But Nagini. There she was, yet living. He looked around the masses of stilled fighters starring at the spectacle in awe. Ah, there. He finally saw Hermione and the Weasley boy. They were standing near the front of the school, side by side with Longbottom. All he could do for the moment was conceal his presence. He had survived thus far: it would not do to be discovered now, while there was still one shred of doubt about the execution of the plan. He would see that snake dead; that plausibly being the last thing he ever did. Perhaps he could send a sound Septumsempra her way. The irony of finishing off Voldemort's final defense with the first offensive spell he had created in his teens under the influence of his young Death Eater friends brought malicious satisfaction to his eyes. He whipped out his wand in preperation, but was forestalled by Voldemort's sudden cat-play with Longbottom. He felt a jolt in his stomach at the thought of Longbottom being burnt alive by the sorting hat under Voldemort's wand. He abruptly surged from the shadows while brandishing his wand towards the boy who had begun screaming.

Voldemort was so gobsmacked by the appearance of the man he thought he had murdered that his eyes only widened in shock as he watched Severus fling the hat from Longbottom's head with a graceful swish and then turn towards Nagini with purpose. Before he could process what was happening, two things happened in quick succetion: Nagini reared to strike at Snape while the sword of Gryffindor was flung at her heart. It pierced her deep and true as she came down on the potions master.

At this point Circe truly abandoned Hogwarts as all hell broke loose. There was an all mighty cry as Voldemort lamented the fate of his very important familiar. Every one took this as a sign that hope was not lost and combat erupted once more. Neville rose on shakely legs after having executed the most physically taxing hurl he had ever tried with something as heavy and long as a silver ruby plated sword and immediately rejoined the fight. Voldemort had no time to verify if Nagini had been successful in finally killing Snape as he was carried away in the torrent of action…he asumed so, due to the spy's sudden lack of appearance.

Hermione was thrown to the ground as the mass of bodies about her rushed forward. It was all she could do not to be trampled. She was frantically rushings about on all fours avoiding the deadly and oblivious stampede of fighters. In her haze she was unexpectadly braught face to face with Snape. He was lying on his back, under the massive beast, apparently unconscious.

"Professor Snape…" She tried shaking him. In a fit of panic she grabbed her wand and performed a diagnostic spell. She sighed in relief…he was only knocked cold from the impact. Her heart had stopped when she saw him rush forward before Voldemort in what looked like an unreal expression of black billowing courage.

"Enervate."

Snape's eyes fluttered and saw the contorted vision of Herimion's chin hovering concerned above him. He groaned and asked their current status.

"Neville's killed Nagini…"

"Granger, I am rather painfully aware of that."

"Oh! Sorry…" She quickly levitated the serpent's body off of him and helped him take cover under a nearby tree.

After a somewhat repulsive fit of crimson coughing, Snape was again making his way to the castle, with Hermione's help of course.

They drug themselves towards the tattered sounds of scuffling and arrived in the Great Hall just in time to see Neville hit Belladrix Lestrange with a powerful purple blast. When the air cleared around her, all that was left was her rather painful looking pointed stelletos.

Voldemort screamed in rage at loosing his last desciple and made a beeline for Harry. Hermione blanched at seeing him…alive. She made to move to his side but was stopped by Snape uncerimoniosly grabbing her arm and hauling her to a safe sideline.

"He is the last horcrux Miss Granger. We must let them battle." Snape had a meaningful look in his eye that spoke his intension of letting Harry meat his demise before finally killing the despot.

"It doesn't make sense Snape! He had already died, I saw his body. Do you think he can't be killed by Voldemort?"

Snape looked ponderous for a moment. "He was unable in the initial attempt. Perhaps their connection is blocking such hostility between two 'blood-brothers' if you will."

They both turned as Harry and Voldemort held a hate laced discussion for all to hear… they could do nothing at the moment but wait.

"Snape was Dumbledore's man…he always was. He loved my mother."

Voldemort looked discusted as he shrugged and caught sight of his treturous spy from the side of his eye. "Well perhaps I ought to remedy that wrong before we go any further…" He snarled and suddenly snapped his wand in Snape's direction. "Avada Kedavra!"

Hermione saw the green light traveling in slow motion towards her loyal professor, and, without thinking of consiquences or outcomes, leaped in front of the snarky spy whom didn't deserve death. All went black.

Light slowly seeped into the blackness that was still clutching to her senses with a painfully strong grip. Painfully? Was the afterlife supposed to be painful? Was she perhaps in limbo? Did she not make it to heaven? Her parents had been overpoweringly religious during the elevan years before she left to Hogwarts, and had given her a healthy respect for small sins and large alike. She certainly had stopped minding her pioty after throwing in her lot with the boys. She now didn't mind all that much cursing aloud, for instance. And she had most certainly told an untruth here and there since her first year away from Christianity. She had even descieved both her dear parents by sending them away with faux identities. She wasn't exactly sure which category of sin that would fall under, but she was fairly certain it was heavy on her cosmic list of misdeeds.

Ah, the hostpital wing. How lovely to be at Hogwarts once again, even in her present state of sure purgatory… at least she would spend it in a place she loved.

"Hardly Miss Granger."

Was that Snape's voice? Oh that's rich: to be tormented in purgatory at Hogwarts under the strict punishment of that taskmaster for centuries. She didn't care if he was savior of the cause, he was still a right git when it came to his tutelage. Wasn't it enough to be stuck in his head while they were on stasis together?

"Now, now Miss Granger. I do believe I deserve an apology for that slight on your part. To be dreaded for centuries is a great insult. Or perhaps I should take it as a compliment on my reputation."

"What?"

"That's right Miss Granger…you are not dead. You have just spoken ill of the current Headmaster of Hogwarts, insulted your professor while in the presence of said professor, and showed a general display of sloppiness. I shall deduct twenty housepoints for this."

Oh of course. That would be what he would do. Deduct housepoints for reasons that don't exist and from a patient no less, just because she's Gryffindor.

"Tuche Miss Granger."

"Oh God. Did I just say all that out loud?"

"Yes."

"Why are you being so indifferent about all this?"

"Because Miss Granger, I am in a humour to overlook your transgretions for the day. Be assured however, that I agree with you emphatically when you deem yourself unworthy of heaven. I'm sure you will spend a few lifetimes in purgatory when it all comes to an end. For now, you are to merely receive a few distasteful potions and well earned rest."

"Professor, what happened?"

There was a pause in which Snape thought over the previous day's events. "The Dark Lord is vanquished. Potter is alive. It seems that your friend had indeed died in the forrest conflict with the Dark Lord. The despot killed his own horcrux, but Potter, very like the first incident, survived. When it came down to the end, it was the Elder Wand that finally killed it's persuer. You see, it would not fire against it's rightful owner…Potter. As with the first attempt on Potter's life, it backfired; only this time, the Dark Lord had no more horcrux's to fall back on. He is dead."

"But, Sir, why am I alive?"

Snape's brow rose in a slow ironic arc. "It seems, Miss Granger, that you and I share a…connection."

"A connection?"

"As distasteful as I am sure you find such a connection, it is the only explanation. Somehow you have entered into the magical agreement I hold with Regelus, and you thoroughly exploited it yesterday…when you shamefully abandon the battle in my stead. Weary as I was, I was forced to aid with the after effects of the battle, in the place of experiencing the pieceful stasis I would have been under had you let the Dark Lord fire at me." He gave her a stern look.

She suddenly noticed that, though Snape sill wore his voluminous jet black teaching robes, he also carried the magical residue which normally would reek off a person riddled with healing spells. Apparently Madam Pomphrey didn't let him get away with his own potions this time. She looked slightly embarassed before continuing her questions. "How could something like this happen?"

He contemplated her seriously. "You would have had to have had some form of meeting with either mine or Regelus's magic at some point in time. Since he died shortly before your birth, I can only assume that I used much force when I helped heal you after the Ministry of Magic incedent. The curse Dolohov sent you had to first be desifered before it could be delt with."

Hermione chewed on her bottom lip. It didn't make sense. Medi-Witches and Wizards go through hundreds of patients year in and year out without such connections being formed. "Sir, what if I do somehow have a connection with Regelus's magic?"

Snape only raised his brow in question.

"Well, I did have that locket around my neck for months. And…I sort of…fooled around with it."

Snape got a deadly serious look to his face. "What do you mean?" he asked sharply.

She cringed slightly at his oppressive concern before continuing. "While Harry and Ron were out looking for food one day as I stayed back at camp, I started trying to…pick at it. I read that such cursed artefacts tend to deteriorate after time if stored a certain way, and well, Kreacher wasn't all to gentle with it. If I could work away at it, I figured it might begin 'leaking' life, and destroy itself. I definitely earned it a few surface flaws. Sir, when I was in my second year, I read a lot about magical theory. There was this french wizard named Jovlan De'Velange that speculated on what he called an 'Ensuring Bind.' It was supposed to 'draw' on the binder's magic, regardless of whether the binder was present or not, alive or dead, to ensure that a task be completed if triggered by something. It could work in any number of ways. It could complete the task itself, give off magic to be used by someone triggering the event, or by any other means available. He was considered mad, and eventually was sent to the guillatine by opposing theorists for his beliefs in many outlandish concepts. What if he was right? If Regelus was as brilliant as you described, and was interested in spell creation, he would have surely studied on De'Velange's work. The 'Ensuring Bind' also sounds an aweful lot like your 'Frateris Tutela' charm…" Hermione was getting into full swing with this theory and thus was speaking far too fast to agree with Snape's presise nature. He put a hand up to stop her rambling.

"De'Velange's work was absolutely fundamental in our experiments. The man was a genius, however, Regelus never spoke of 'finishing' his work. We used his theories as blue prints at times, but always explored our own endeavors."

"Yes but it would fit don't you see? If Regelus started perfecting this binding spell, he could have used it as a last attempt to help Kreacher destroy the locket. He knew he was going to die retrieving it, and had planned to entrust it to Kreacher. He must have doubted the elf's ability. This would be a back up plan. He could put the Ensuring Bind on the locket before he sent it off…then when Kreacher actually tried to destroy it, he would receive some of Regelus's essence to help him in his task. Regelus also wouldn't have had time to perfect it completely, only using it in the same way the both of you used the Frateris Tutela charm; instead of using it as De'Velange had theorized to ensure itself by trigger. He would have gone for passing on hisown magic first, since that was what he knew he could accomplish.

Severus thought on this argument for a moment. It did make sense. Obviously Regelus hadn't been entirely forthcoming with him, hence his subsiquent changing of sides and mysterious demise. If he had changed sides, he would have been quite leary of sharing all of his work with any other Death Eater, even his lab partner and friend. Hermione's annoyingly excited voice broke his thoughts once again.

"But getting back to the locket… when I was knicking it about I made a particularly harsh gash on the left side. I felt a jolt of force pulse through my hand and travel through my body and saw a greenish hue transfuse from the gash for a split second. At the time I only thought it was the fragment of soul defending itself…"

Snape sat up straighter before answering, "That's quite as it feels when one casts the Frateris Tutela charm."

Hermione looked on with a fierceness in her eyes at the thought of solving the puzzle.

"This would mean Miss Granger that more than Regelus, yourself and I share this connection." At Hermione's questioning look he rolled his eyes. "Think Granger. Who else would have mettled with the locket, thus earning Regelus's magical essence?"

Hermione gasped in surprise, "Kreacher and Ron!"

"Mr. Weasley destroyed it then?" Snape seemed just a tad too surprised.

Hermione glared in defense of Ron's abilities and went on. "Yes. Kreacher had been trying to destroy it for years."

"But perhaps did not succeed in hurting it as you had Miss Granger. We only know for certain that there are four members of this…unlikely group." Snape couldn't help being Snape by sneering at the thought of sharing such an intimate and depending connection with two teenagers. He trusted Regelus, he may even have grown to trust Hermione, but he simply could not stomach the Weasel: and said so quite bluntly.

Hermione was outraged. "Ron destroyed the horcrux! Quite bravely! He didn't know what he would invoke by doing it: he was only thinking of the good of the magical world!"

Severus let his expressionless exterior drop just enough to rub his eyes in irritation at the female's obvious prejudiced and heated defence of her future buea. "…hell hath no fury…" he muttered as he rose to take his leave. "Good day Hermione…"

That shut her up. She looked stunned at his use of her given name.

"I retract my point deduction. This shall be the one and only day in Hogwarts: a history that you are exempt of the consequences of your impertenances and unavoidable annoying qualities."

She shut her mouth and looked put out.

And for once in Hogwarts: a history Snape smiled. This caused Hermione's mouth to open wide again. He turned and gave a worthy execution of the most billowing robes Hermione had ever seen: so much so that she secretly thought he must have used magic to make them look like that.

Snape walked down the halls of the now battered and beaten halls of his home. He looked about and smirked as he headed for his Deputy Headmistress Menerva McGonigal's office. He relished the look that would surely appeare on his old transfiguration teacher's face when he told her that he would not relinquish his Headmaster's status to it's rightful owner after all. He knew from the moment he became Headmaster, at Voldemort's hand, that it should have gone to the old pillar that was McGonigal, and secretly promised her that it would be so one day when she had confronted him after his reappearance. There had been many bitter words due to McGonigal's belief that Severus had indeed murdered Albus, so he had made that small promise in the place of the confession of innocence he so wanted to make. When it came down to it, he thought he would not survive the war, so the small clause in his will that appointed her as his successor, was a just and easily granted good deed. Ah, but now, now things were different. He was alive, and he felt he deserved the elevated status after all that had passed. He was after all, a Slytherin : body and soul.

There was a spring in his step the likes of which he hadn't accomplished since his school days with Lily, as he entered the small and rigidly straight laced office.

Moments passed with all going forward in a peaceful manner…then….suddenly an explosion was heard and reverberated through out the castle. Horror stricken faces snapped up to see a Snape shaped hole in McGonigal's office door. Neville tentatively stepped closer to examine the damage, still holding the prize that was Gryffindor's sword close to his chest. He heard coughing coming from a corner and stumbled backward in a fright when he saw the terrifying potion's master crawl out of a wall. He looked as if he had been through a hundred floo's he was so dust covered.

"THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR FOR ENDANGERING YOUR SORRY ARSE LONGBOTTOM BY STEPPING TOWARD SUCH A SCENE WITHOUT FIRST ENGAGING THE ATTENTION OF ONE OF YOUR TEACHERS!"

Neville looked shocked as the Headmaster stormed off towards his office. McGonigal stood in her doorway, holding a smoking wand, and looking every bit as scary as the first time she chased Snape through a wall with a wand.

Neville wisely departed before anymore points could be deducted: McGonigal was in no mood.

Time rolled by, and though the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts was in quite a temper towards the Headmaster for quite a time, she eventually cooled her indignation at the pass over Severus had inflicted on her by not relinquishing his position as he should have. She understood his need to find something good in life and conceded with a warm heart to helping him as she would have always helped Albus…after a little house fued point butchery of course.

It was said for many generations to come that Headmaster Severus Snape, Potions Master, Death Eater, Order of the Pheonix spy, Murderer of Albus Dumbledore, War Hero, Order of Merlin first class and Spell Creations Expert was the fiersest, scariest, and 'best' Headmaster Hogwarts had ever seen. After his true oppointment to the position, when all necessity of war strategy were null and void, programs for the poor and disabled children of the magical community began flourishing. The standard of learning rose dramatically, as he ruled his students with an iron fist. He would only except the best of efforts from all parties of the school. For this, two things changed in the magical educational history of England: more higher education schools sprung up due to his 'quality in learning' regime, and those passing on to those higher educational programs were those who truly had the intellect to do so, not those who where able to pay enough gallions.

Though Scorpious Malfoy was quite intelligent and able to win many recommendations, his father Draco was not so lucky. He was not permitted to enter higher education because of his poor attention span, which was not tollerated in Snape's new world of talent opportunity.

Snape was looking for perfection, and was every bit as avid in his teaching endeavors as Albus was…despite his unnerving personality. So yes, he was renowned for his heart clenching, tear inducing, and hate inspiring ways…but he succeeded in a manner of speaking. He had changed the world, twice.

As for his affections, he had none…or so everyone thought. An intelligent and highly-sung war heroin by the name of Hermione Granger knew better. She saw him little in the years to come, only meeting eyes with him in passing at the train station, or the occational ministrial meeting that occurred in honer of Albus Dumbledore or the Order of the Phoenix. Whenever he saw her, he always bowed his head in acknowledgement.

When her daughter arrived at Hogwarts, a skinny girl with wild untameable red curls, and large brown Granger eyes, he took special time to tutour the girl. She was, to her father's dismay, a Slytherin.

And when Rose Weasely was married to Scorpious Malfoy, he was present.

So yes, though all thought him to be the dungeon dweller of Hogwarts lacking a heart, they were indeed wrong. He was the fiersest, scariest, and Best Headmaster Hogwarts had ever seen. Albus Dumbledore's portrait teased him to no end on the title…

…The End…

Or it would be, if the Weasely twins hadn't decided to plegue the educational system by becoming joint professors of Defence Against the Dark Arts. It was the first time in history there had ever been two professors for the same class at Hogwarts. And absolutely no one knew how Severus Snape had ever agreed to hire them…many thought it was done at wand point…

Special Thanks to *Ardenna Ouvrard* for introducing me to the argument that Neville should have got to finish off Beladrix.


End file.
